Melody blowing device

ABSTRACT

A melody blowing device capable of producing notes of beautiful blowing sounds has a casing forming a main resonant chamber provided with a blow inlet orifice; a plurality of auxiliary chambers, each having a different resonant volume and each being individually in communication with the main chamber through an individual aperture; a plurality of valves each being associated with a respective one of the apertures normally closing the apertures and movable to open and close the same; spring means urging each said valve to a closed position, a plurality of valve push plates each movable to engage a respective one of said valves and more the same to open its aperture against the bias of said spring means, a control plate having a portion normally overlying said orifice and movable to expose the same, to produce a musical note, a plurality of control blocks movable as a unit relatively to said casing and in response to relative movement with respect to the casing, engaging and moving each respective push plate in desired sequence, means operable to move said control plate to orifice-exposing position each time a control block effects an opening of its valve, to produce a sequence of musical notes, and means operable to continuously urge the expulsion of air from said main chamber, through the orifice therein.

[451 Sept. 30, 1975 ABSTRACT A melody blowing device capable of producing notes of beautiful blowing sounds has a casing forming a main resonant chamber provided with a blow inlet orificc; a plurality of auxiliary chambers, each having a different resonant volume and each being individually in communication with the main chamber through an individual aperture; a plurality of valves each being associated with a respective one of the apertures normally closing the apertures and movable to open and close the same; spring means urging each said valve to a closed position, a plurality of valve push plates each movable to engage a respective one of said valves and more the same to open its aperture against the bias of said spring means, a control plate having a portion normally overlying said orifice and movable to expose the same, to produce a musical note, a plurality of control blocks movable as a unit relatively to said casing and in response to relative movement with respect to the casing, engaging and moving each respective 8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures n Du 0/.

l 2 ll :1 1 u 2.10% i lllU TICIFIIID push plate in desired sequence, means operable to move said control plate to orifice-exposing position each time a control block effects an opening of its valve, to produce a sequence of musical notes, and means operable to continuously urge the expulsion of air from said main chamber, through the orifice United States Patent [191 Ono MELODY BLOWING DEVICE Inventor: Tasuku Ono, Tokyo, Japan [73] Assignee: Stiron Chemical Industry Co. Ltd..,

Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Aug. 6, 1974 [52] US. Cl. 84/83; 46/112; 84/330 1 1 Int. GIOF l/12 [58] Field of Search............ 46/44, 112, 179; 84/83,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS m m mm m m 1.1 nm mww e c f t w u STSHTOM 59 2333 6677777 9999999 l l l l l ll 66003270 699 964 8483463 53 682 573 8405 46 33333-fl3 Primary Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Attorney, Agent, or FirmOtto John Munz U.S'. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 1 of4 3,908,505

FIG.

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet2 of4 3,908,505

U .S.; Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 3 of 4 3,908,505

FIG. 5

| EE i US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 4-of4 3,908,505

.FIG. 7

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MELODY BLOWING DEVICE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part of application of copending US. Patent application Ser. No. 377,143, filed July 6, 1973 and the filing date thereof as well as the filing date of prior patent application Ser. No. 288,405, filed Sept. 12, 1972 and issued as US. Pat. No. 3,747,266 on July 24, 1973, and the priorities to which that application is entitled under the Convention are also claimed for all subject matter common therewith.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a melody blowing device.

More particularly the invention relates to an improved melody blowing device which is able to produce automatically and continuously various melodies with a lovely quality of tone and expression.

Especially, the melody blowing device of this invention is simple and small, so that it can be easily incorporated into a toy'and the like, and give pleasure to the children playing with it. Since it creates melodies, it can be'recommended for auditory education and science education.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The conventional whistle for a toy whether blown by hand operation or mechanical operation has a single or double tone capability so that the sound produced is simple and soon becomes tiresome an'd monotonous. When the resonant chamber is large; the sound produced is unpleasant and the difference in the tones of a scale become obscure. l

The prior art did not succeed in creating a desirable device having agood tone simultaneously with a good sound volume. In order to produce a plurality 'of sounds, a corresponding number of sound chambers is necessary, so that the resonance control mechanism becomes large and complicated. Therefore it is difficult to incorporate such conventional'sound producing device into the limited space available in a toy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The principal object of the present invention. is to provide a novel and improved melody blowing device which is simple in structure and small in size so that it may be easily built into a'toy, can be manufactured with ease, at low cost, and at the same time being capable of producing a variety of melodies with clear and lovely tones and high satisfactory expression.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a melody blowing device which can be embodied in a movable toy, while automatically and continuously producing melodies by and in response to movement of the top thus arousing a great deal of interest and attention of those playing with it.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide 'a melody blowing device which can be used for producing a musical box type machine, eliminating generation of sound by means of vibration of metal reeds, employed in conventional music boxes.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a melody blowing device which can easily produce melodies having sounds of variable duration according to the choice and desire of children playing with it, thereby giving the pleasure of hearing music during play to arouse the desire tocreate music, so that the device of the invention is helpful for the auditory education and science education of children.

Pursuant to the above objects, the melody blowing device of the present invention is provided with a casing; a main resonant chamber in the casing which has a blow orifice through which air is forced to produce a melodious sound; a plurality of auxiliary chambers each having a different volume, each being in communication with the main chamber through a'respective one of a plurality of apertures; a plurality of valves, one for each auxiliary chamber to open and close the aperture thereof; a plurality of valve pushing plates each engaging with and pressing a respective one of said valves to actuate the same by an external force applied thereto;a blow hole or orifice control plate which can be operated to vary the effective size of the blow hole of the main chamber; and detachable and changeable control blocks which are disposed as desired on and along a path independent of said casing so as to sequentially contact said valve pushing plates and the blow hole control plate to operate them.

The present invention is explained with the aid of the following specification and drawings by way of examples'only.

It should be understood, that these are only illustrative. Other combinations of and variations from the embodiments shown herein will readily occur to those skilled'in the art and such are considered to be within the spirit of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section of the left side of a first embodiment in which the melody blowing device is attached to a movable body such as one indicated in dot-dash lines, as it would appear just before contacting a relatively fixed control block, also shown by dot-dash lines.

FIG. 2' is a bottom view of the casing of said embodiment, in which the subsidiary chambers and other parts are shown by dash lines. 1 3

FIG. 3 is a plan view to an enlarged scale of control blocks which are disposed on the track for the movable body or toy. v

FIG. 4 is a plan view of control blocks which are disposed on and along a circular track for the toy.

FIG. 5 is a left side view of another embodiment of the invention in a music box type, in which the main body of the melody blowing device is stationary and the control blocks are moved to operate the device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 5 in which the rotary drum and driving mechanism are removed for clarity of illustration of the valve-operating mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a partial front view to an enlarged scale of DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, 1 denotes a casing, the upper portion of which is provided with a main chamber 3 which communicates with a blowing chamber 2. The lower portion of said main chamber 3 is provided with a plurality of discrete subsidiary chambers, 5, 5', 5" and 5", each of which has dimensions differing from the others and each communicating with said main chamber 3 through respective ones of a plurality of apertures 4. The numeral 6 identifies one of a plurality of identical valve means, one for each of the auxiliary chambers 5, 5, etc. Hence a description of valve means 6 will suffice for all. A valve stem 6a is slidably disposed in and through an aperture in the bottom wall of casing l and its aperture 4 in the bottom wall of main chamber 3. At its upper and lower ends respectively, stern 6a has attached thereto a head 6b and a cap 60. A coil spring 7, which surrounds the lower part of the stem and, as will be clear from inspection of FIG. 1, acts continuously between cap 60 and the bottom wall of the casing to urge the valve downwardly into a closed position. All of the other valve means, one for each of the chambers 5, 5" and 5" are similar in construction and function.

In the blowing chamber 2, a fan or blower 8 is fixed to the rotatable shaft 10 of an electric motor 9. The air current produced within chamber 2 by rotation of the blower is accelerated through a narrow passage 11 and thence passes to a blow hole 12. The edge portion 12a of said blow hole 12 divides said air current into two portions, one of which passes into main chamber 3 while the other is exhausted outside the casing. Regularly recurring vibrations are thus created forming a musical tone having a resonance, of a certain frequency according to the effective volume or size of the associated chamber. A support shaft 13 is attached to the bottom surface of the casing 1 by means of bearings or support plates 13a, and a plurality of valve pushing plates 14, 14', 14" and 14" are swingably attached to said support shaft 13 by hinges 15. Springs S are interposed between said bottom surface of the casing 1 and each valve pushing plate, respectively. Each stem cap 6c is located over a respective one of the push plates 14, 14', etc. so that each cap and its associated stem 6a and valve head 6b is translated upwardly against the bias of its spring 7, by and in response to clockwise pivoting of its plate, as viewed in FIG. 1. The action opens the corresponding aperture or passageway 4 and creates an effective resonant volume equal to that of main chamber 3 plus that of the auxiliary chamber 5, 5', etc. corresponding to the valve thus opened. The means for individually pivoting or swinging each of the push plates is subsequently described. A control plate 16 is pivoted on one end of shaft 13. This plate has an integral end portion 16a normally overlying the blow hole or orifice 12 and continuously urged to effectively close the orifice by a spring S. Thus the effective size or area of the orifice may be varied by and in response to pivoting of plate 16. However, it is not necessary to completely close the orifice 12 because a partial closing thereof is sufficient to stop the generation of sound otherwise produced by the emission of air through orifice 12. Said control plate 16 is further provided with a projection 161) at its lower end below shaft 13, so that when a movable body 17 of a toy on which the casing 1 is mounted, is moved to the right as seen in FIG. 1, an obstruction on the track, which will be subsequently termed a control block, pushes said projection 16b in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, so that the vane or closing portion 16a is pivoted to the right on the support shaft 13 to a position such as the one indicated on FIG. 1, in dotdash lines, wherein orifice 12 is opened to produce a sound.

The moveable bodies 17 may be, for example, toys in the form of automobiles, locomotives, electric cars, patrol cars, snow mobiles, fire engines, space ships and the like which are driven by springs or electric cells. The numeral 18 denotes a pair of supporting wheels for the toy. These can be replaced with any of similar parts.

The track plate 19 for movable body 17 is shown in FIG. 3 as being linear although it may be circular as shown in FIG. 4 or elliptic, or the like, and of course, a combination of linear and curved forms of track may also be used. Along both edges, guiding means or tracks 19a for the wheels 18 of the movable body 17 are provided.

Numerals 20, FIG. 3, indicate a plurality of blocks removably and adjustably fixed in any suitable way on and along a track portion 21 shown adjacent to and parallel with one edge track 19a. These blocks are thus positioned to lie in the vertical plane of motion of projection 16b as the toy or device 17 is guided in translation on and along the track. Thus each, in succession engages the projection and effects swinging of vane 16a in the manner previously described, to create a musical note having a duration which, of course, is a function of the speed of movement of the toy on and along the track, and the linear dimension of each respective block in the direction of movement. Thus if, for a given speed of the toy, a certain short block 20' corresponds to the duration of an eighth note, two blocks of the same length positioned in end-to-end contact or relation will produce a quarter note. Thus various combinations of blocks 20 can be used to vary the duration of each note produced.

The blocks identified at 20, FIG. 3, are shown positioned on and adjustable along track portions indicated at 19b, 19'b etc. For instance, those blocks on track 1912 may be located in the vertical plane, parallel with the track, of plate 14", FIG. 2, so that each time one of those plates engages a block. It is thereby pivoted upwardly, the corresponding valve is raised and its aperture 4 opened. This acts in the example being given to place chambers 3 and 5" in communication, thereby providing a resonant chamber of effective volume different from that of chamber 3 when functioning alone. The pitch of the musical note produced at orifice or hole 12 is thereby varied. Thus in a way obvious from inspection of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and the foregoing description, blocks 20 on track portion 19b, l9'b and 19"b, during translation of the toy on and along its track, may engage plates 14, 14 and 14", respectively, to place main chamber 3 and auxiliary chambers 5, 5' and 5" in communication. Since all auxiliary chambers differ inter se in volume, when each is thus placed in communication with main chamber 3, a musical note is created having a pitch different from the others; and by properly and selectively arranging the blocks in and along the several track portions 19, l9'b, etc., a pleasing and melodious succession of notes may be effected.

It will be understood that blocks 20 and 20 are securely but adjustably fixed to the corresponding track portions so that they are not moved when contacted by push plates 14, 14', etc., or by projection 16b, as the case may be. Also to be noted is the fact that, as is clear from inspection of FIG. 3, each block 20 is in substantial registration transversely to the direction of extent of the track, with a corresponding block 20' on track portion 21, so that the note of any particular pitch ceases when projection 16b moves clear of each block 20.. Further, each block may be of substantially the same linear extent longitudinally of the track, with a corresponding block 20. However, two or more of the control blocks 20 can be disposed in end-to-end contact on their respective track sections 19b, l9b, etc., so as to improve the character or quality of the musical notes produced. Springs 7 act to close each respective valve 6 immediately, as soon as a plate 14, 14, etc., moves free of any given block 20. Likewise when projection 16b moves out of contact with each block 20, spring S immediately swings control plate 16 to a position effectively closing orifice 12, wherein no sound is produced.

Thus when body or toy 17 is translated or moved on and along track 19 the plates 14, 14, etc., engage blocks 20 in orderly and predetermined succession, the valves 6 are opened to open the corresponding aperture 4. Simultaneously or just before each aperture 4 is opened to place one of the auxiliary chambers 5, 5', etc., in communication with main chamber 3, projection 16b engages a block 20' and, as previously described, plate 16 is pivoted to initiate a note at orifice 12. Thus a pleasing and harmonious preselected succession of musical notes may be produced. It is contemplated that track portions 19b, l9'b, 21, etc., may be formed as grooves in which the blocks frictionally fit so that each block may be adjusted to a selected location in and along its groove. Alternatively it is contemplated that the several control blocks may be fixed in adjusted position on and along its track portion by magnetic means.

In FIGS. 5 to 8, another embodiment of the present invention is shown, in which each of the same or corresponding part as the foregoing embodiment is indicated by the same numeral. In this second embodiment, the valve pushing plates and the blow hole control plate attached to the casing are stationary, while the control blocks 20 and 20' are moved and engaged with said plates. As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 8, subsidiary chambers 5, 5, 5" and 5" which have volumes differing inter se, are provided on a main chamber 3.

Each subsidiary chamber may be placed in communication with said main chamber 3 by means of respective aperture 4, where the construction of the valve means 6 to close each aperture 4 is the same as those in the foregoing embodiment.

A stem cap 6c is provided onthe upper end of each valve stem 6a of each subsidiary chamber 5 to 5", and a spring 7 disposed about each stem 6a, operates to continuously urge each valve head 6b upwardly to a position closing its opening 4, as previously described in connection with FIGS. 1, 2 and'3. The orifice or blow hole control plate 16 pivotally mounted at 22 to close and open orifice l2, closes or opens in the manner pre- As in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3, each cap is urged upwardly by its own spring 7, into valveclosing position. At its end nearest the observer in FIG. 5, plate 16'a has an extension 16b bent downwardly and integrally attached at its lower end to orifice control element 16. As shown, the latter curves laterally and downwardly to terminate in a portion 16c normally overlying orifice 12. The entire one-piece control part thus provided is pivoted on the casing at 22 on an axis normal to the plane of FIG. 5, so that in response to pivoting to the position shown in dot-dash lines on that figure, portion l6'c uncovers or exposes the orifice and a note is thus produced by air emerging therefrom. A spring S", FIGS. 5 and 6, urges the control element 16 to its full-line position, FIG. 5.

All four push plates 14, 14, etc., are hingedly mounted at their ends, on a shaft 13 journaled at its end in bearings 13a attached to the sound chamber. As shown this chamber consists of a number of auxiliary chambers 5, 5', 5" and 5" of different effective volumes each corresponding to a selected one of a corresponding number of tones to be produced. As will be understood from inspection of FIG. 6, each auxiliary chamber is placed in communication with the main chamber 3, when its valve 6 is depressed to open position by pivoting of the corresponding push plate 14, 14', etc. Each push plate is urged to move clockwise as viewed upon FIG. 5, by a respective one of four springs S.

The peripheral surface of a rotary drum 23,journaled on shaft 23a atop the casing for rotation on an axis normal to the plane of FIG. 5, has five parallel circular grooves formed therein. Control blocks 20 are adjustably fixed in and along four of those grooves so that, as shown upon FIGS. 5 and 7,, the block in each of the four grooves contacts and depresses in predetermined succession, each respective push plate, in response to rotation of the drum. The right-side groove 20' in drum 23 (see FIG. 7) is located at one end of the peripheral surface of the drum and is in superposed registration with a portion l6'a of a control plate 16'.

Accordingly, during the rotation of said rotary drum 23, each of the control blocks selectively presses one of the valve pushing plates 14 to 14" at the same time each of the control blocks 20' presses a portion 16'a of the control plate 16'. Thus the corresponding auxiliary chamber is placed in communication with the main chamber 3 and the blow hole 12 is opened. Through this action, a sound corresponding to the total effective volume of the main chamber 3 and the auxiliary chamber is created. According to the disposition of the above-mentioned control blocks. 20 and 20, the volume of said sound chambers can be changed, so that various melodies can be produced. Further, by arranging one or more of the blocks 20 and 20' independently, that is without regard to blocks 20, a portion l6'a of a control plate 16' may be operated alone. to actuate said blow hole control plate 16 only, thereby opening blow hole or orifice 12 without regard to the action of the valve means 6. Thus a sound corresponding to the space of the main chamber 3 only can also be produced.

In FIG. 5, a fan 8 is provided on the opposite side of said subsidiary chambers 5 to 5" in said casing 1, and said fan driven by a motor 9 which is attached on said casing 1.

Further, the upper end of the shaft 10 of said motor 9 is provided with a worm gear 24, the driving force of which is transmitted to a gear 27 on the rotary drum 23 through pinions 25 and 26. Thereby the rotary drum 23 can be rotated at a certain reduced speed. Respective shaft 25a, 26a and 23a of the pinions 25 and 26 and rotary drum 23 may be supported by side plates (not shown) attached to'the side walls of the casing.

The melody blowing device of the present invention having the above-mentioned construction, can be made small in size and simple in structure, so that it can be built in a limited small space of any article, for example, a movable toy, and it can be produced at low cost.

The resonant volumes of sound chambers can be eas-- ily varied to generate blowing sounds by means of the relative movements of the valve pushing plates and blow hole control plate attached to the casing, and the control blocks attached on the track of the movable body or on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum. Accordingly, clear, beautiful, large and melodious sound creating various melodies can be produced continuously and automatically. Further, by using the above device, music box type machines or movable toys blowing continuously and automatically the above-mentioned good sounds with several melodies can be easily manufactured, so that the interest and attention of children to the movable toys may be aroused, or novel music box type devices which eliminate the conventional music boxes having objectionable metallic sounds can be easily manufactured at a low price.

Further, the control blocks of the invention can be attached, removed or changed without difficulty according to the choise of the user, so that children can enjoy music during their play and the urge to create other melodies will be reduced. Therefore, the melody blowing device of the present invention is very helpful for the auditory education and science education of children.

What is claimed is:

l. A melody blowing device comprising, a casing forming a main resonant chamber having an orifice therein to produce a musical note in response to air blown therethrough, said casing also forming a plurality of discrete auxiliary chambers each having a resonant volume differing from the others and each having a respective one of a plurality of apertures to place each auxiliary chamber individually in communication with said main chamber, a plurality of valves each associated with a respective one of said apertures and movable to open and close the same, spring means urging each said valve to the closed position, a plurality of valve push plates each movable to engage a respective one of said valves and move the same to open its aperture against the bias of said spring means, a control plate having a portion normally overlying said orifice and movable to expose the same, to produce a musical note, a plurality of control blocks movable as a unit relatively to said casing and in response to relative movement with respect to the casing, engaging and moving each respective push plate in desired sequence, means operable to move said control plate to orifice-exposing position each time a control block effects an opening of its valve, to produce a sequence of musical notes, and means operable to continuously urge the expulsion of air from said main chamber, through the orifice therein.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising, a shaft mounted on said casing, said valve push plates being hinged to said shaft for swinging thereon, said orifice control plate also being pivotally mounted on said shaft, and including an integral projection, a track, means carried by said casing mounting the same for guided translation on and along said track, said control blocks being fixed with and along said track, to sequentially engage and operate said push plates to a valveopening position, and also to ngage said projection to move said control plate to a position exposing said orifice.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a shaft journaled on said casing, said valve push plates being hinged to said shaft in side-by-side spaced relation for swinging thereon, each said valve comprising a head in operative closing and opening relation with a respective one of said apertures, a stem fixed at one end to said head, and a cap fixed to the other end of the stern and in contact with a respective one of said push plates, said orifice control plate including an elongated portion having therethrough a plurality of apertures each surrounding a respective one of said valve stems contiguous to the cap thereof, said control plate also including a lever portion of inverted T-shape depending from one end of said elongated portion and fixed therewith, means pivoting one arm of said lever portion'to a wall of said casing, on an axis parallel with said shaft, the other arm of said lever portion extending over said orifice to alternatively 'open and close the: same, a rotary drum journaled on said casing for rotation about an axis parallel with said shaft, said control blocks being affixed to the peripheral surface of said drum for rotation as a unit therewith, an auxiliary push plate journaled on the end of said shaft remote from said lever portion and overlying the contiguous end of the elongated portion of said control plate for operative contact therewith, and a plurality ofauxiliary control blocks affixed to the peripheral surface of said drum for sequential operative engagement with said auxiliary push plate.

4. In a melody playing instrument, a casing forming a main chamber having therein a sound-producing orifice, and a plurality of auxiliary chambers, all said chambers being discrete and of different effective resonant volumes, a plurality of valves each operable to alternatively connect and disconnect each said auxiliary chamber to and from said main chamber whereby the resonant volume of said main chamber may be varied, a plurality of push plates each operableto engage a respective one of said valves and move the same to a position connecting its auxiliary chamber to said main chamber, a control plate having, a portion movable to alternately open and close said ,orifice, a plurality of control blocks, means mounting said blocks for movement as a unit relatively to said casing, for predetermined sequential contact with said push plates and said control plate, and means supplying air under pressure to said main chamber for expulsion thereof from said orifice.

5. The instrument of claim 4, said 'mounting means comprising a track, and means for guiding said casing formovement on and along said track.

6. The instrument of claim 5, said track comprising a plurality of laterally spaced parallel grooves, there being one groove in operative registration with each push plate, respectively, and an auxiliary groove in rebetween said main chamber and an auxiliary chamber.

8. The instrucment of claim 6, the blocks in said grooves being disposed in spaced relation therealong, to operate said control plate to orifice-opening position, each time another of said blocks moves into contact with a push plate to open the corresponding one of said valves. 

1. A melody blowing device comprising, a casing forming a main resonant chamber having an orifice therein to produce a musical note in response to air blown therethrough, said casing also forming a plurality of discrete auxiliary chambers each having a resonant volume differing from the others and each having a respective one of a plurality of apertures to place each auxiliary chamber individually in communication with said main chamber, a plurality of valves each associated with a respective one of said apertures and movable to open and close the same, spring means urging each said valve to the closed position, a plurality of valve push plates each movable to engage a respective one of said valves and move the same to open its aperture against the bias of said spring means, a control plate having a portion normally overlying said orifice and movable to expose the same, to produce a musical note, a plurality of control blocks movable as a unit relatively to said casing and in response to relative movement with respect to the casing, engaging and moving each respective push plate in desired sequence, means operable to move said control plate to orificeexposing position each time a control block effects an opening of its valve, to produce a sequence of musical notes, and means operable to continuously urge the expulsion of air from said main chamber, through the orifice therein.
 2. The device of claim 1, further comprising, a shaft mounted on said casing, said valve push plates being hinged to said shaft for swinging thereon, said orifice control plate also being pivotally mounted on said shaft, and including an integral projection, a track, means carried by said casing mounting the same for guided translation on and along said track, said control blocks being fixed with and along said track, to sequentially engage and operate said push plates to a valve-opening position, and also to engage said projection to move said control plate to a position exposing said orifice.
 3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a shaft journaled on said casing, said valve push plates being hinged to said shaft in side-by-side spaced relation for swinging thereon, each said valve comprising a head in operative closing and opening relation with a respective one of said apertures, a stem fixed at one end to said head, and a cap fixed to the other end of the stem and in contact with a respective one of said push plates, said orifice control plate including an elongated portion having therethrough a plurality of apertures each surrounding a respective one of said valve stems contiguous to the cap thereof, said control plate also including a lever portion of inverted T-shape depending from one end of said elongated portion and fixed therewith, means pivoting one arm of said lever portion to a wall of said casing, on an axis parallel with said shaft, the other arm of said lever portion extending over said orifice to alternatively open and close the same, a rotary drum journaled on said casing for rotation about an axis parallel with said shaft, said control blocks being affixed to the peripheral surface of saiD drum for rotation as a unit therewith, an auxiliary push plate journaled on the end of said shaft remote from said lever portion and overlying the contiguous end of the elongated portion of said control plate for operative contact therewith, and a plurality of auxiliary control blocks affixed to the peripheral surface of said drum for sequential operative engagement with said auxiliary push plate.
 4. In a melody playing instrument, a casing forming a main chamber having therein a sound-producing orifice, and a plurality of auxiliary chambers, all said chambers being discrete and of different effective resonant volumes, a plurality of valves each operable to alternatively connect and disconnect each said auxiliary chamber to and from said main chamber whereby the resonant volume of said main chamber may be varied, a plurality of push plates each operable to engage a respective one of said valves and move the same to a position connecting its auxiliary chamber to said main chamber, a control plate having a portion movable to alternately open and close said orifice, a plurality of control blocks, means mounting said blocks for movement as a unit relatively to said casing, for predetermined sequential contact with said push plates and said control plate, and means supplying air under pressure to said main chamber for expulsion thereof from said orifice.
 5. The instrument of claim 4, said mounting means comprising a track, and means for guiding said casing for movement on and along said track.
 6. The instrument of claim 5, said track comprising a plurality of laterally spaced parallel grooves, there being one groove in operative registration with each push plate, respectively, and an auxiliary groove in registration with the movable portion of said control plate, said control blocks being adjustably fixed in and along said grooves.
 7. The instrument of claim 6, each block in said auxiliary groove being positioned in registration transversely of said track, with a corresponding block in the other grooves, whereby said orifice is opened to create a musical note essentially simultaneously with connection between said main chamber and an auxiliary chamber.
 8. The instrucment of claim 6, the blocks in said grooves being disposed in spaced relation therealong, to operate said control plate to orifice-opening position, each time another of said blocks moves into contact with a push plate to open the corresponding one of said valves. 